Choose or Die

I had some other stuff saved on Netflix, but it was all going to require reading subtitles and I wasn't up for that on Sunday, so here we are.

There's a game, old and looking like it plays off a cassette tape. It's called Cursor, or Curser maybe. The second vowel is actually a symbol. The game is far too aware of what the player is doing, and it presents them with choices. Some are simple, like, would you like another beer? That doesn't last, and soon the player is asked whether their wife should lose her ears, or their son his tongue. If you don't choose, well, you know. If you do, the choice happens, as the game can override people's bodies, somehow. Also, it's sadistic, as even innocuous choices turn out horribly. And, the game forces you to play at the same time each day that you first started it. No giving it back, no throwing it away.

A copy of the game ends up in Kayla's possession, and now she's got to either find a way out, or survive long enough to win. She has the help of her friend Isaac, who is kind of an expert on '80s stuff, but that's not as much help as they'd hope. The movie spends a fair amount of time on Kayla's lousy life. Dropped out of college, working a shitty cleaning job to support her mother, who retreated into drugs to escape the grief of Kayla's baby brother dying. The guy who sells her mom drugs hangs around all the time, taunting Kayla about her situation and eating their groceries.

This would be pretty effective at putting the audience on Kayla's side, if that was necessary. So I think the point is to show how she's suffering, even before the game starts in on her. The way she's let guilt over one slip-up tie her into an awful situation, one she can't win. It's not the game's intent, but at points, it feels like it's almost helping set her free. The things it tries to put her through, she's already done to herself for years. At least with Curser, there's theoretically a way to make it through, a prize at the end.

The "boss battle" at the end is kind of strange because it flips the way the game operated. It's not about suffering for someone else's gain. I won't say more because it's probably something best seen yourself. The problem is, it's kind of a tough thing to pull off without seeming cartoonish, and I'm not sure they pulled it off. There were some parts that were kind of goofy. Still, as far as Netflix films I've watched go, it's on the higher end for enjoyment.